Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

After living in the survival space for several days, Zhao Rong and his four companions decided it was time to leave. He led Lili, Yu Lan, Xuelian, and his assistant to the exit.

Looking at the exit, Lili thought about the world outside. ”Brother Zhao Rong,” she said, ”we have no idea how long we’ve been in here. The outside world must feel so unfamiliar to us now.”

Yu Lan let her imagination run wild. ”I think the outside world is undergoing a cataclysmic extinction event,” she speculated. ”Because we were hiding in the survival space, we were lucky enough to survive.”

Hearing Yu Lan’s words, Xuelian burst out laughing. ”You two have been watching too many Hollywood blockbusters to come up with something so bizarre.” She then considered their actual situation and turned to Zhao Rong. ”Brother Zhao Rong, before we entered the survival space, the Magic Academy was hit by an earthquake or some kind of collapse and was buried. I think outside, we’ll just find a pile of rubble and ruined buildings.”

The assistant chimed in with a sly smirk, ”I think the outside world is probably full of beautiful women just waiting for me to choose from.”

Before they could speculate any further, Zhao Rong led them out of the survival space.

When the five of them emerged into the outside world, they were struck dumb with amazement. Before them stood a towering Primeval Forest, and massive animals roamed the surroundings.

The three women stared in disbelief. ”Brother Zhao Rong,” one of them said, ”before we came in here, this was a rugged loess plateau. How could it have turned into a Primeval Forest while we were inside? It even looks a little like the Amazon rainforest... Look how tall the trees are, how lush the grass is, and how massive these animals are!”

Gazing at the surrounding forest, an idea struck Lili. ”Brother Zhao Rong,” she said, ”could we have been in the survival space for several centuries? Maybe the world changed drastically while we were away, and the old loess plateau became a forest because of reforestation projects?”

Yu Lan watched the large herbivores running through the nearby trees, fascinated. ”Brother,” she said, ”I don’t think we traveled to the future. I think we traveled to the past.”

Xuelian stated her theory with even more certainty, ”Brother Zhao Rong, I think we’ve time-traveled to the Jurassic period.”

When the assistant heard Xuelian mention the Jurassic, he immediately shook his head. Pointing at a saber-toothed tiger not far away, he said, ”Xuelian, I don’t think we’re in the Jurassic era; I think it’s the Ice Age. See that saber-toothed tiger? I read about them in ’100,000 Whys.’ Those animals lived during the Ice Age, not the Jurassic.”

While everyone stood around confused, unsure of what time period they had arrived in, Zhao Rong took the time locator from his pocket. ”Since none of us know when we are, let’s stop guessing,” he announced. ”I’ll use this time locator to figure it out. It can calculate the exact era we’re in with great precision.”

With that, Zhao Rong grabbed a handful of yellow soil from the ground and placed it inside the time locator. The device immediately began its calculations. When the three women and the assistant saw the time period displayed on the device, they were stunned into silence.

”Good heavens,” Zhao Rong said, turning to them. ”We’ve traveled to a prehistoric civilization.”

Hearing the words ”prehistoric civilization,” Lili asked with great interest, ”Brother Zhao Rong, I thought human civilization was only tens of thousands of years old. Are you saying we’ve traveled back hundreds of millions of years to a civilization from that time?”

Zhao Rong nodded. ”You’re right, Lili. We’ve arrived in a prehistoric civilization for which no historical records exist.”

Yu Lan stepped forward. ”Brother Zhao Rong, what exactly is a prehistoric civilization?”

”Yu Lan, listen closely,” Zhao Rong explained. ”Consider the evidence: human footprints in shoes found on trilobite fossils dating back 250 to 600 million years; the two-billion-year-old large-scale nuclear chain reactor discovered in the modern-day Gabon Republic; the 2.8-billion-year-old metal spheres found in South Africa; and various stone tools from many different periods.”

Hearing this, Yu Lan was astounded. She asked in disbelief, ”Brother Zhao Rong, are you saying human civilization isn’t just tens of thousands of years old, but has existed for hundreds of millions of years?”

”The development of humanity isn’t linear as we once imagined,” Zhao Rong elaborated. ”It’s cyclical. Different civilizations have existed on Earth in different periods.”

Xuelian’s eyes lit up with understanding. ”Brother Zhao Rong, does that mean we’ve arrived in another one of those cycles of human civilization?”

Zhao Rong nodded. ”Exactly, Xuelian. Human civilization is cyclical. When one is destroyed, another eventually appears to take its place. This means the theory we learned—that humans only evolved in the last few tens of thousands of years—is unfounded. Humanity rises and falls, again and again, in a constant cycle.”

The assistant listened, a look of wonder on his face. ”Brother Zhao Rong, that’s completely blown my mind,” he said. ”So, in Earth’s 4.6-billion-year history, human civilizations didn’t just appear in the last few tens of thousands of years. They’ve been appearing cyclically for hundreds of millions of years. They get destroyed, then they’re reborn, then destroyed again, in just an endless loop...”

Just as the assistant finished speaking, the three women suddenly spotted a figure emerging from the woods. It was a man, dressed in animal skins and carrying a spear, and he was walking right toward them.